Sitemap listed only static section pages, never individual content items
DomainNODEJS
ImpactMedium
Error Signature
sitemap.xml contains only section-index URLs, never individual case/paper URLs
QueryKey Cases's sitemap.xml was a static file listing only section-index URLs like /case/ and /research/ - it never included a URL for any individual case or research paper, meaning search engines had no way to discover specific content items through the sitemap. A new dynamically-generated sitemap now adds one entry per published case and paper with a real last-modified date.
Root Cause
The sitemap was hand-authored as a static XML file at build time, with no mechanism to reflect the actual, changing set of published content in the database.
Solution Steps
- Replace the static sitemap.xml file with a dynamic GET /sitemap.xml route that queries published, public cases and papers and adds one <url> entry per item with a real <lastmod> from each row's updated_at.
- Mount the dynamic route ahead of static file serving so it takes precedence, and remove the now-redundant static file.
- Confirm the sitemap now contains many more entries than just the static sections.
Validation
[object Object]
Rollback
[object Object]
Ecosystem: nodejs
License: CC-BY-4.0
Last updated: Jul 6, 2026